Details for Old Palestine Cemetery

Historical Marker — Atlas Number 5073012384

Data

Marker Number 12384
Atlas Number 5073012384
Marker Title Old Palestine Cemetery
Index Entry Palestine Cemetery, Old
Address SH 21
City Alto
County Cherokee
UTM Zone 15
UTM Easting 309292
UTM Northing 3504525
Subject Codes cemetery
Marker Year 2001
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark No
Marker Location 6 miles east of Alto on SH 21
Private Property No
Marker Condition In Situ
Marker Size 18" x 28"
Marker Text Henry and Helena (Dill) Berryman deeded four acres of land at this site to trustees of the Old Palestine Baptist Church in 1853. Seven years later Helena, by then a widow, gave an additional two acres on which a schoolhouse and community graveyard already were in existence. Many early graves are undocumented, but records indicate stones once marked interments that occurred as early as 1861. Among the pioneer settlers interred here are James and Martha Boyd, their son Benjamin, daughter Martha Donegan, and infant granddaughter Lara Donegan, all of whom died in 1862. Enlarged in later years with additional land donations, the cemetery stands as a reminder of the area's pioneer heritage. (2001)